This newly published data on the wage gap doesn't even include the most damning numbers around: A Pew Research Center report found that in 2015, on average, a black man earned around $15 an hour, while a white man earned $21 — aka 71 cents on the dollar.

A young, black woman leads a brainstorming session in an open concept office. Source: ESB Essentials

One underlying factor could be that the difference in pay between black and white college graduates is biggest in top-earning fields, such as pharmaceutical sciences.

"Race is not a skill or characteristic that should have any market value as it relates to your wages, but it does," Valerie Wilson, co-author of the report, told CNN. Wilson is also the director of EPI's Race, Ethnicity and the Economy program.

Even census data shows the problem has been a consistent one: As median household incomes increased overall by more than 5% from 2014 to 2015, income inequality by race and gender remained pretty much unchanged.